Blood & Marrow Transplant Research

The Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program at the OSUCCC – James is internationally known for science-based advancements in treating cancer.

As part of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, the BMT program participates in several clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These clinical trials are designed to improve outcomes in patients with blood cancers. Our BMT physicians are full-time faculty members at Ohio State’s College of Medicine, and each physician has significant subspecialty experience in individual malignancies such as lymphoma, multiple myeloma and leukemia. They treat patients at all stages of disease, but they are very interested in enhancing outcomes among those with poor-risk leukemia treated in first remission.

Our BMT physicians also are adept at conducting innovative research that leads to improved clinical care. For example, they developed and demonstrated the effectiveness of a radiation-free preparative regimen for blood and marrow transplantation that is used around the world for treating diseases such as chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Another study by researchers at the OSUCCC – James and elsewhere showed that using a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen to prepare older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for blood and marrow transplants resulted in higher rates of disease-free survival relative to the more typical treatments usually given to these patients. Typically, the prognosis for older patients with AML is poor. But for older AML patients who received a reduced-intensity regimen prior to their transplant, the disease-free survival rate reached 39 percent. This study was conducted through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network.

Blood & Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials

For cancer patients, research and clinical trials mean hope.

The OSUCCC – James has hundreds of open clinical trials at any given time, with some of the world’s latest discoveries available to clinical trial patients right here in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, patients have access to more cancer clinical trials here than at nearly any other hospital in the region and they also have access to some of the most advanced, targeted treatments and drugs available.

Patients can enter clinical trials before, during or after starting their individual treatments.

The OSUCCC – James is one of only four U.S. cancer centers funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to conduct phase I and phase II clinical trials and to conduct clinical trials for new blood and marrow transplant methods. These trials go only to centers that demonstrate an exemplary capacity for research and clinical care, the expertise to deliver the latest in treatments, and the infrastructure to interpret and track treatment results.

Additionally, the OSUCCC – James is a member of the NCI-sponsored Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB).

Here are just a few of our internationally acclaimed accomplishments and successes.

1. Creating alternative therapies for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). New research at the OSUCCC – James is studying which therapies improve chances for remission in AML patients who have normal-looking chromosomes.

2. Winning critical research grants, including a five-year, $6.25 million grant from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to develop new chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) therapies and further improve current therapies. The projects aim to develop experimental drugs that block molecules CLL cells need to survive and grow.

3. Earning a $9.8 million, five-year Program Project Grant (PPG) from the NCI. In this study, our expert scientists will study how retroviruses can transform lymphocytes (white blood cells found in leukemia patients) and cause blood cell growth that may lead to AML.

4. Discovering not only a new gene that suppresses tumors, but also a unique chemical signature that might play a part in developing leukemia — findings that open opportunity for future study.

If you have been diagnosed with cancer and would like a second opinion, or if you would like to speak with a cancer specialist, please call The James Line at 800-293-5066 or 614-293-5066 to make an appointment.